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- Mariposa, Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 84, 1856 (Coconoons
language, Mariposa County). Latham, Opuscula, 350, 1860. Latham,
El. Comp. Philology, 416, 1862 (Coconoons of Mercede River).
- Yo´-kuts, Powers in Cont. N.A. Eth., III, 369, 1877. Powell,
ibid., 570 (vocabularies of Yo´-kuts, Wi´-chi-kik, Tin´-lin-neh,
King’s River, Coconoons, Calaveras County).
- Yocut, Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 158, 1877 (mentions
Taches, Chewenee, Watooga, Chookchancies, Coconoons and others).
Gatschet in Beach, Ind. Misc., 432, 1877.
Derivation: A Spanish word meaning “butterfly,” applied to a
county in California and subsequently taken for the family name.
Latham mentions the remnants of three distinct bands of the Coconoon,
each with its own language, in the north of Mariposa County. These
are classed together under the above name. More recently the tribes
speaking languages allied to the Coconun have been treated of under
the family name Yokut. As, however, the stock was established by
Latham on a sound basis, his name is here restored.
Geographic Distribution
The territory of the
Mariposan family is quite irregular in outline. On the north it
is bounded by the Fresno River up to the point of its junction with
the San Joaquin; thence by a line running to the northeast corner of
the Salinan territory in San Benito County, California; on the west
by a line running from San Benito to Mount Pinos. From the middle of
the western shore of Tulare Lake to the ridge at Mount Pinos on the
south, the Mariposan area is merely a narrow strip in and along the
foothills. Occupying one-half of the western and all the southern
shore of Tulare Lake, and bounded on the north by a line running
from the southeast corner of Tulare Lake due east to the first great
spur of the Sierra Nevada range is the territory of the intrusive
Shoshoni. On the east the secondary range of the Sierra Nevada forms
the Mariposan boundary.
In addition to the above a small strip of territory on the eastern
bank of the San Joaquin is occupied by the Cholovone division of the
Mariposan family, between the Tuolumne and the point where the San
Joaquin turns to the west before entering Suisun Bay.
Tribes
Ayapaì (Tule River).
Chainímaini (lower King’s River).
Chukaímina (Squaw Valley).
Chuk´chansi (San Joaquin River above Millerton).
Chunut (Kaweah River at the lake).
Coconun´ (Merced River).
Ititcha (King’s River).
Kassovo (Day Creek).
Kau-í-a (Kaweah River; foothills).
Kiawétni (Tule River at Porterville).
Mayáyu (Tule River, south fork).
Notoánaiti (on the lake). Ochíngita (Tule River).
Pitkachì (extinct; San Joaquin River below Millerton).
Pohállin Tinleh (near Kern lake).
Sawákhtu (Tule River, south fork).
Táchi (Kingston).
Télumni (Kaweah River below Visalia).
Tínlinneh (Fort Tejon).
Tisèchu (upper King’s River).
Wíchikik (King’s River).
Wikchúmni (Kaweah River; foothills).
Wíksachi (upper Kaweah Valley).
Yúkol (Kaweah River plains).
Population.—There are 145 of the
Indians of this family now attached to the Mission Agency,
California.
Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico, 1891
Linguistic
Families
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